Research Notes
  Issue 48
  May 2012
   ISSN 1756-509X
      Research Notes
      Issue 48 / May 2012
      A quarterly publication reporting on research, test development and validation
      Senior Editor and Editor 
      Dr Hanan Khalifa, Assistant Director, Research and Validation Group, Cambridge ESOL
      Dr Fiona Barker, Senior Research and Validation Manager, Research and Validation Group, Cambridge ESOL 
      Editorial Board
      Prof Anne Burns, University of New South Wales
      Katherine Brandon, Professional Support & Development Officer, English Australia
      Dr Nick Saville, Director, Research and Validation Group, Cambridge ESOL
      Production Team
      Caroline Warren, Research Support Administrator, Cambridge ESOL
      Rachel Rudge, Marketing Production Controller, Cambridge ESOL
      John Savage, Editorial Assistant, Cambridge ESOL
      Printed in the United Kingdom by Océ (UK) Ltd.
                                                                                 CAMBRIDGE ESOL : RESEARCH NOTES : issue 48 / may 2012    |    1
                                               Research Notes
                                               Contents
                                                 edi torial notes                                                                             1
                                                 The english australia/Cambridge esOL action Research in eLiCOs Programme: 
                                                 Background and rationale: Kather ine Brandon                                                 2
                                                 Teacher research in a national programme: impact and implications: Anne Burns 3
                                                 Developing reading skills of learners from arabic-speaking backgrounds: 7 
                                                 Sara Kablaoui and Amal Khabbaz
                                                 student attitudes to eaP grammar instruction: John Gardiner 11
                                                 Raising student awareness of pronunciation and exploring out-of-class approaches to 
                                                 pronunciation practice: Brendan Brown 18
                                                 Developing greater learner autonomy: Adi Rotem 24
                                                 assessment rubric as teaching tool: Learning how to ‘tick all the boxes’: 30 
                                                 Brigette Fyfe and Christine Vella
                                                 Creating a blog for self-assessment: Megan Baker 36
                                                 Presentation of the 2011 english australia/Cambridge esOL action Research in eLiCOs 
                                                 award                                                                                      41
                                               Editorial notes
                                               Welcome to issue 48 of Research Notes, our quarterly publication reporting on matters relating 
                                               to research, test development and validation within University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations. 
                                               This issue presents research undertaken within the 2011 English Australia/Cambridge ESOL 
                                               Action Research in ELICOS Programme, which supports teachers working in the English language 
                                               intensive courses for overseas students (ELICOS) sector in Australia. 
                                                  In the first article Katherine Brandon provides the background to the 2011 Action Research (AR) 
                                               Programme which sought projects to explore knowledge, skills, attitudes or practices in teaching 
                                               English for specific or general purposes; monitoring student progress; and student motivation. 
                                               This is followed by a summary of a recent study into the impact of the Programme for the ELICOS 
                                               sector by Anne Burns who focuses on the impact on participating teachers, their institutions and 
                                               more widely.
                                                  Next, six funded projects are presented by the teacher-researchers who participated in the 
                                               2011 Programme within five different institutions and several regions within Australia. The first 
                                               pair of articles explore specific skills in the classroom. Sara Kablaoui and Amal Khabbaz explore 
                                               the development of reading skills of Arabic English as a Second Language (ESL) learners through 
                                               four specific reading strategies which helped to improve the participants’ reading skills. Next, John 
                                               Gardiner reports on his study in which he investigated the grammar teaching beliefs of English for 
                                               Academic Purposes (EAP) learners in order to improve classroom instruction and student motivation.
                                                  The second pair of articles focus on aspects of learner autonomy and include the winner of the 
                                               2011 Action Research in ELICOS Award, Brendan Brown. Brendan explores ways of improving the 
                                               pronunciation of higher level students, based on the students’ identification of key aspects of their 
                                               own pronunciation and independent practice.  Adi Rotem’s project sought to enable greater learner 
                                               autonomy amongst EAP students, using teaching and learning strategies to observe and document 
                                               learner progress along an existing independent learning continuum with students encouraged to 
                                               form learner-directed study groups outside of class. 
                                                  The final two articles explore assessment. Brigette Fyfe and Christine Vella report on their study 
                                               into using assessment rubrics as a teaching tool in order to improve students’ academic writing 
                                               skills through an increase in understanding of academic conventions and building upon intrinsic 
                                               features of academic texts. Finally, Megan Baker describes how she created a blog for a mixed-level 
                                               class of students in order to see whether this increased their fluency and creativity in writing and 
                                               whether this could be used for self-assessment.
                                                  The third round of research funded by this programme is underway and we look forward to 
                                               reporting on these studies in a future issue. We finish this issue with a picture of the presentation 
                                               of the 2011 Action Research in ELICOS Award. 
                                                              © UCLES 2012 – The contents of this publication may not be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder.
              2    |    CAMBRIDGE ESOL : RESEARCH NOTES : issue 48 / may 2012
              The English Australia/Cambridge ESOL Action 
              Research in ELICOS Programme: Background and 
              rationale 
              KaTHeRiNe BRaNDON  PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT & DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, ENGLISH AUSTRALIA
              English Australia                                                                •	 to equip teachers with the skills to enable them to explore 
              English Australia is the professional association for over 100                      and address identified teaching challenges in the context of 
              member colleges that offer English language intensive courses                       Australian ELICOS
              for overseas students (ELICOS) in Australia. Member colleges                     •	 to share outcomes of this research in the form of 
              are diverse, ranging from publicly funded as well as private                        presentations at local events and at the annual English 
              institutions attached to universities, vocational colleges and                      Australia Conference, as well as through publication.
              high schools, to branches of international English language                         Through the achievement of these goals English Australia 
              schools through to standalone private providers. Member                          hopes to raise the professionalism of Australian ELICOS by: 
              colleges offer a wide range of courses, the most popular                         the development of teachers actively involved in classroom 
              being English for Academic Purposes and preparation for                          research (the programme); the development of teacher peer 
              proficiency exams, such as Cambridge ESOL General English                        networks; increased teacher engagement with research and 
              examinations, and IELTS (which is jointly owned by Cambridge                     academic researchers; and more teachers furthering their 
              ESOL, the British Council and IDP). English Australia is also                    formal professional development.
              the peak body for ELICOS, promoting the interests of more                           The Action Research in ELICOS Programme was inspired by 
              than 270 accredited ELICOS providers in Australia.                               the action research programme funded by the then Australian 
                The strategic direction of the association is guided by                        Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs through 
              a 14-member Council of elected member delegates. The                             its Adult Migrant English Programme in the late 1990s. With 
              association’s operations are implemented by a secretariat led                    Anne Burns (now Professor of TESOL at the University of New 
              by an Executive Director and including a full-time Professional                  South Wales and Professor in Language Education, School of 
              Support and Development Officer (PSDO).                                          Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, 
                The main role of the PSDO is to further one of the                             UK) as key reference person a pilot programme, developed 
              association’s strategic goals, that of facilitating higher levels of             by English Australia and funded by University of Cambridge 
              professional practice in member colleges. The strategic goal is                  ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL), was implemented 
              achieved in a number of ways including:                                          in 2010. The success of this programme of six projects (see 
              •	 organisation and/or support of professional development at                    Research Notes 44, May 2011) led to funding being offered for 
                branches in Australian states                                                  a similar programme in 2011 and extended to cover up to eight 
              •	 management of a national conference, the English Australia                    participants working on six projects. In both years the focus of 
                Conference, held in September each year                                        research covered a range of topics selected by the programme 
              •	 preparation of Guides to Best Practice in ELICOS,                             Reference Group, informed by the English Australia Council. 
                collated from member contribution (available only to                           The 2012 programme has started and will comprise nine 
                members)                                                                       participants researching six projects relating to aspects of 
                                                                                               assessment in ELICOS.
              •	 twice-yearly publication of a peer-reviewed journal: the 
                English Australia Journal
              •	 promotion of the annual English Australia awards for                          Programme outcomes
                contribution to ELICOS, contribution to professional 
                practice, academic leadership and innovation in ELICOS.                        The Council of English Australia is delighted with the 
                For more information on English Australia and ELICOS, the                      outcomes of the programme to date, as outlined in a recent 
              reader is referred to www.englishaustralia.com.au                                study into its impact (see Burns, this issue) and looks forward 
                                                                                               to further positive outcomes. English Australia would like to 
                                                                                               recognise the material and professional support provided by 
                                                                                               Cambridge ESOL, in particular by Drs Nick Saville, Hanan 
              Background to the Action Research in                                             Khalifa and Fiona Barker and the team at the Research and 
              ELICOS Programme                                                                 Validation Group, and the invaluable contribution of Professor 
                                                                                               Anne Burns to the ongoing implementation and success of 
              The English Australia/Cambridge ESOL Action Research in                          the programme.
              ELICOS Programme was set up with the following goals:
              © UCLES 2012 – The contents of this publication may not be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder.